Broadband access networks use cable, digital subscriber lines (DSL), WiMAX, and like technologies, to provide high quality, high bandwidth services to end-users in their homes. The Broadband Forum (http://www.broadband-forum.org/) defines standards for connecting clients to fixed broadband access networks. FIG. 1 (prior art) represents a typical home network and nodes providing access thereto. A home network 100 uses a layer 3 Residential Gateway (RG) 110 to connect user devices to a fixed access operator. Behind the RG 110, a subscriber may connect multiple devices 120a, 120b, 120c, which can be personal computers (PC), laptops, television Set Top Boxes, IP Phones, mobile User Equipment (UE), and the like. The RG 110 connects to an access node 130; the access node 130 may support various access technologies such as DSL, cable, or WiMAX. The access node 130 provides a link between the RG 110 and a first node within a fixed access network, which may be for example an IP edge node 140. The fixed access network is a broadband network owned and operated by a service provider. When the RG 110 connects to the fixed access network, a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) server 150 of the fixed access network hands over a block of internet protocol version 6 (IPv6) address space to the RG 110. The address space may for example be a subscriber identity (ID), also called a “/56 prefix”, as defined in the Request for Comments (RFC) 2073 from the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). The RG 110 then splits the /56 prefix into smaller pieces. In turn, according to the same RFC, the RG 110 may allocate, from the /56 prefix, an Intra-Subscriber part, also called “/64 prefix”, to each device 120a, 120b, 120c, in the residential network 100.
Since the RG 110 is a router, it hides the home network 100 and locally connected devices 120a, 120b, 120c. An operator of the fixed access network cannot identify the customer devices 120a, 120b, 120c, behind the RG 110. Otherwise stated, an IPv6 address that a given subscriber device 120a, 120b, 120c, is assigned behind the RG 110 is not visible to the fixed access network.
One of the devices 120a, 120b, 120c may be a 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) based dual-mode mobile terminal, or dual-mode UE, supporting for example a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) access technology along with a 3GPP High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) access technology or a 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) access technology. A 3GPP network assigns an IP address for exchange of traffic between the UE and any correspondent node. This IP address is a Mobile Internet Protocol home address for the UE. When the dual-mode UE is connected to the fixed access network, that network allocates another IP address (or a range of IP addresses defined by an address prefix) to the UE. This other IP address is a Mobile Internet Protocol care-of address for the UE. A well-known binding process for these two addresses ensures that data intended for delivery to the UE, directed to its 3GPP-assigned home address, is properly routed to the care-of address while the UE is active in the fixed access network.
The dual-mode terminal is an excellent support for fixed-mobile convergence, a concept aimed at providing seamless connectivity between fixed and wireless communications networks. A 3GPP operator and the operator of the fixed access network may agree to provide similar levels of service to a given user, according to policies of the 3GPP network, defined according to the user's subscription level, and provided to the fixed access network. With fixed-mobile convergence, the dual-mode terminal user should, in principle, have access to the same type of services as he/she connects to a 3GPP network or to the fixed access network. However, when the dual-mode terminal is connected to the fixed access network, the fixed access network operator cannot offer the services the terminal has subscribed to in the 3GPP network because no 3GPP identity of the dual-mode terminal is visible beyond the RG 110. The broadband network has no means to identify the dual-mode terminal as a 3GPP terminal having a predefined service level contract. This is an impediment to fixed-mobile convergence. The operator cannot give preferential treatment to the terminal, even though such treatment might bring additional revenues. In addition, this rules out delivery of personalized contents to the terminal, such as for example directed advertisements, device specific encodings, and the like, that might be beneficial to the operator.